Illinois

04/02/2013

If your lifestyle isn't one of a certain level of snootiness, you may be familiar with the game, "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon." In this game, one thinks of an actor and then tries, in six or fewer steps to link him or her to Kevein Bacon. Take Gene Hackman for example:

Gene Hackman starred in "Hoosiers" with Dennis Hopper.

Dennis Hopper appeared in "Easy Rider" along with Jack Nicholson.

Jack Nicholson played the heroic figure (but not by the libtard Hollywood standards) in "Few Good Men," with Kevin Bacon.

The same sort of game could be played with Bill Ayers taking the role of Kevin Bacon and Illinois Republicans such as husband of Emily's List donor and aspiring gubernatorial candidate, Bruce Rauner taking the place of the chosen actor. Given that Bill Ayers is an unrepentant domestic terrorist who the oh-so progressive "intellectuals" adore for his commitment to indoc... err.. education, this could be of interest. It could be especially interesting to those in Republican circles who (correctly, in my opinion) made a big deal out of Barack Obama's association with Ayers.

President Obama appointed Ms. Pritzker to the President's Council
for Jobs and Competitiveness which advises the Administration on
economic growth and job creation. Ms. Pritzker previously served on the
President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board. She was National
Co-chair of Obama for America 2012 and was National Finance Chair of the
2008 Barack Obama for President Campaign.

In addition to her service to "The One," Penny Pritzker serves as a prime example of the one-percenter, fat-cat hypocrisy of Barack Obama. One might think President Obama gets really steaming mad when those nasty banks take advantage of the proletariat with predatory, sub-prime loans. Well he does in front of the right audience, but Pritzker would appear to be exactly the type of predator the reader of TOTUS would abhor. From Lynn Sweet's blog at the Sun Times:

"Part of the reason we got a current mortgage
crisis has to do with the fact that people got suckered in to loans
that they could not pay," he told a crowd in Reading, Pa., last week.
"There were a lot of predatory loans that were given out, a lot of
teaser rates. Banks and financial institutions making these loans were
making money hand over fist."

At the helm of Superior Bank was Obama's national finance chairwoman, Penny Pritzker, an heiress to the Pritzker fortune.

One of the banks that went
under after making a lot of subprime loans -- leaving 1,400 of its
customers without part of their savings -- was Chicago's Superior Bank.

At the helm of Superior Bank at least some of the time was Obama's
national finance chairwoman, Penny Pritzker, an heiress to the Pritzker
fortune.

Obama's campaign notes that Pritzker stepped down as chairwoman of
the bank's board in 1994, seven years before it failed. She then went on
the board of the bank's holding company.

But a letter obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times shows that until the
end, Pritzker appeared to be taking a leadership role in trying to
revive the bank with an expanded push into subprime loans.

Wasn't that fun? I am not implying that Rauner approves of the Weather Underground (especially not in the way the libtard Hollywood types adore them), but I do think the associations of these elitists are interesting. They must be a close group, as many of them seem to sit on multiple boards together. Who ever said money cannot buy influence and political power?

Rauner, Pritzker, and the dead fish ballerina can't be all bad. They have ruffled the feathers of another "intellectual" progressive buddy of Ayers and Dohrn, Mike Klonsky (information on the commie "educator" can be found here in Andrew McCarthy's National Review piece). Hippy, commie Klonsky takes issue with the trio and their education reform cohorts here. So, it is probably reasonable for Illinois Republicans to support Bruce Rauner for Governor. It would likely seem odd if they were to support Rahm Emanuel outright and apparently Mayor of Chicago is more prestigious than Governor of Illinois or Emanuel would run, himself. That is unless he believes he is better off putting a Republican up against Lisa Madigan.

03/10/2013

Given that conservatives I respect seem to be considering supporting Bruce Rauner, I am perplexed. After checking the political donations by him and his wife, I am more perplexed. While the majority of his political donations since have been to Republican organizations and candidates, it is hard to imagine why Republicans and "conservatives" are supporting a man whose 2002 contributions were as follows (http://www.campaignmoney.com/finance.asp?type=in&cycle=02&criteria=rauner&fname=bruce):

05/23/2011

Remember April 8,2011 when former Shrieker of the House Nancy Pelosi, exercised undue strain on the work of her plastic surgeon (she was speaking) and said "elections shouldn't matter as much as they do?" The idea was that the Republicans who share the same goals, ideals, and motivations as the leftist Democrats should retake their party from the nasty lovers of liberty. I don't believe elections matter as much as they should!

Maybe elections matter more when new members are elected. When an incumbent is ousted, there is at least the possibility that the new congressman will be motivated by a passion for liberty and keeping the federal government in check. It would appear that after some excessive number of terms in Washington D.C., congressmen begin to see the federal government as the solution to all our problems. It also appears that they get comfortable legislating favors. I wonder if they realize that they cannot give to one unless they first take from another.

05/18/2011

The wacky, wild, and zany public servants (perhaps more accurately described as the political tools of big labor) are nearing the finish line in their race to throttle the life from Illinois small businesses and maximize the fleecing of taxpayers. This of course is being done for the noble goal of getting the best "responsible" price to ensure quality (read: union) work is done on behalf of the taxpaying electorate. Having sewn up opposition to the Guinta Amendment on the federal level (with the help of supposed conservatives such as my own Congressman, John Shimkus) and with the PLA and Prevailing Wage bills passing the Illinois House, victory is only a few strides away.

The question, as I see it, is as follows. Is it possible for concerned citizens to effectively place hurdles in the path of the well-conditioned track star as he sprints to glory? This is Illinois, after all, home of the Chicago political legacy... not to mention the types of Republican sell-outs who would support attacks on their constituents in the form of Dream Acts, PLAs, etc. I suppose we shall see.

05/15/2011

The issue of Project Labor Agreements has received some attention the last few months, but not nearly enough. Citizens in states such as Illinois face double trouble from the big government/big union love affair as we have an anti-market (and anti-liberty) state government to augment the anti-market (and anti-liberty) majority in the Senate and White House.

04/22/2011

Is there an ethics limbo bar under which one must be able to slither in order to succeed in Illinois politics? No, I am not addressing the Illinois Democrats. Everyone knows what a dirty (yet outrageously successful) joke they are. I am concerned about the Illinois Republican Party! How can decent common people, those not on the inside, be expected to put trust in political operatives and entities that seem to define the politician stereotype?

I do realize that the party defenders have a whole arsenal of attacks and meaningless explanations ready for such an inquiry, but I feel it is necessary to ask. It might not be isolated to Illinois, I realize (for those who would offer the “everyone does it” defense). Some may say that those who would expect to be able to compete with the less than pure Democrat political machines must be able to work on the same level. Others may simply accuse the inquiring citizen of attempting to “divide Republicans” as my congressman, John Shimkus has recently asserted (in response to a citizen daring to ask him about his support of PLAs).

03/28/2011

Saturday evening I attended the Richland County Republican Lincoln Day Dinner. The county party did a nice job organizing the event and there was what appeared to my untrained eye to be a great turnout. The founder of For the Good of Illinois, and my first choice for governor, Adam Andrzejewski spoke before dinner. After dinner, Congressman John Shimkus spoke for a few minutes, followed by our state central committee member, Bob Winchester. Winchester was followed by former Secretary of State candidate Robert Enriquez, who inspired this piece, but more on that in a moment.

2010 Attorney General nominee Steve Kim spoke, followed by State Senator John O. Jones, State Rep. David Reis, Richland County States Attorney David Hyde, and Sherrif Andy Hires. The final two speakers, Bill Sandiford and Gary Carter, spoke as to why they are running for IECC (Illinois Eastern Community College) Board of Trustees (I would recommend voting for these two gentlemen if you are in the IECC district.)

I knew enough about Robert Enriquez and had read enough of his Facebook commentary to know I was likely not going to agree with his assertions. It did not take more than a few sentences before I was shaking my head and thinking "here we go with the identity politics and social liberalism garbage." In the middle of his speech, a friend who was also in attendance but at a different table, texted me: "What's with this RINO BS?" It would appear that "RINO BS" is Enriquez' vision for the Illinois Republican Party.

03/15/2011

You remember Illinois State Senator Edward Maloney (D- Chicago), don't you? Yes, that Maloney, of SB 136 infamy. He is the one who seems to be more concerned about restricting the freedom of parents who care enough to educate their own children than the failing and amazingly expensive public schools. (Illinois Review has several pieces about SB 136 and Maloney's desire to register all those who believe they can do better for their children than entrusting them to the state... in case you are not familiar with the good senator's special brand of authoritarian desire.)

Perhaps the most recent assault on the Illinois electorate by this Chicago Democrat (who would expect such a thing from a Chicago Dem?) is a way to get back at those pesky little insects who forced him to temporarily relax his grip on the throat of homeschooling families. How dare the subjects make their voices heard? Do not the inconsequential little citizens know their place? Maybe SB 1645 is the petty attempt of a senator scorned to exert a little control over nosy constituents.

01/22/2011

I think by now most have read or heard about the horrific actions of Philadelphia "doctor" Kermit Gosnell. The gruesome findings and allegations are among the most disgusting one could imagine... especially given that this man is a "doctor." If you have a strong stomach, you may want to visit Jill Stanek's blog and see what this man did, but be warned: it is not for the squeamish!

There is legitimate and understandable disgust and outrage in response to what has been discovered at Women's Medical Society in Philadelphia. (There is also a prime example of how well the machine of the statist functioned: no visits by state regulators since 1993... but we all know the state does it better!) The outrage and disgust, if displayed by any "pro-choice" activist would seem at least somewhat hypocritical. The actions of this "doctor" vary only slightly from the actions many pro-choice activists and politicians support. This is of course, unless they are only expressing outrage over the murder of the woman and not the other findings.

12/29/2010

Illinois conservative voices seem to be clamoring for the passage of SB600 to fix the way the ILGOP state central committee members are elected. A part of the goal is to perhaps remove the power from the hands of the entrenched elitist jerks who currently pull the Illinois Republican Party strings. The goals may be noble and who can argue against knocking the bums in charge of the excuse for a state Republican Party that is the ILGOP off their perches?

Why then should SB600 pose a dilemma for an Illinois conservative? Shouldn't we adopt an "ends justify the means" mindset and get this important task accomplished? Surely there can be no principled argument that could outweigh the righteous substance of this bill. Adam Andrzejewski, Cedra Crenshaw, and other Illinois conservative stars support the bill, so why not fall in line?

A friend, fellow TEA Party organizer, and tireless activist recently asked, in response to my opposition to SB600, if I didn't think the conservatives in Illinois could take control of the party if the bill were enacted... as well as what I would do. I had to think about the second question, but immediately responded "no" to the first.